Gold Cup could be Chepo's last stand

It’s hard to know what stretches the bounds of credulity more about the current state of Mexico’s national soccer team: that it happened at all or that it is happening now.

Think back to last summer. Mexico was in Wembley Stadium in London, standing on the top podium at the Olympics, hearing its national anthem echo through one of the sport’s cathedrals, beaming with the satisfaction that it had finally arrived on the world stage.

It all seemed so promising, so ascendant, the two under-17 World Cup titles, the semifinal run in the under-20 World Cup, the Olympic gold medal, a senior national team led by Manchester United’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. And it all went so horribly wrong.

Less than a year later, El Tri comes to the CONCACAF Gold Cup at a crossroads it could have never imagined. It has won just twice in 12 games in 2013. Fans are chanting “Fuera Chepo,” demanding that Coach Jose Manuel de la Torre be fired. Qualification for the 2014 World Cup, for decades an assumption, has become an iffy proposition with four games to go.

“People can get impatient, that’s normal, because they always want to see their team win,” de la Torre told Fox Sports. “This happens in every country. And we know that the only thing that keeps people calm and happy is that their team wins.”

The Gold Cup, which El Tri opens Sunday against Panama at the Rose Bowl, was supposed to allow de la Torre to examine fringe prospects in a relaxed atmosphere with little at stake. Instead, it’s become a referendum on his job with a bunch of guys who have no incentive to play for him and, in some cases, won’t.

After a crazy June of three World Cup qualifiers followed immediately by the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, de la Torre let the first-teamers return to their pro clubs. Now a half-dozen members from his initial 23-man Gold Cup roster are out, too, either due to injury or “injury.”

That includes midfielder Fernando Arce and goalkeeper Cirilo Saucedo of the Tijuana Xolos, along with forwards Omar Bravo and Oribe Peralta.

“El Tri B,” as it has been dubbed, had a pair of Gold Cup tuneups in Mexico last week against second-division Cruz Azul Hidalgo and perennial first-division doormat Queretaro. Lost both, after which de la Torre lamented his team’s “basic errors.”

Panama doesn’t have its full roster either, but it should have five or six starters from the team that tied Mexico 0-0 in qualifying last month in Panama City. And it doesn’t have the burden of expectation that the tournament’s two-time defending champion carries.

Still, it’s Mexico, a nation blessed by the region’s top domestic league and deepest talent pool. The problems may be between the ears more than the lines.

“Mexico will always be a strong team,” said U.S. captain DaMarcus Beasley, who has spent the last two years with Puebla in Liga MX. “Obviously they’ve hit a little bad patch. But you can never count out Mexico. I’m sure it will take them one game and they’ll be back on their feet again.”